
:::tip <u>Do Not</u> Build Images During Development
Because image building can waste a lot of time and slows down developers, we recommend that you only build images when running DevSpace in your CI/CD pipelines using `devspace build/deploy` but **not** when a developer runs `devspace dev`.

Instead of image building, use the following workflow for `devspace dev`:
1. Deploy your application using prod/stable images
2. Use the [`devImage` feature](../dev/modifications/dev-image) to swap out the prod/stable images in runtime using a prebuilt dev-optimized image.
3. Use the [`sync` feature](../dev/connections/file-sync) for hot reloading your containers
:::
